Courtesy Photo | DEVCOM Commanding General Brig. Gen. Robert Born (7th from top left) and ARL Acting...... read more read more
ADELPHI, Md. -- As rapidly changing technologies expand the breadths of modern warfare, the Army must advance the capability of its tools and its leaders. At the Cadet Showcase Aug. 12, the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory recognized the students who will bridge the gap between brilliant researchers and effective Soldiers on the ground.
After attending Cadet Summer Training, 23 cadets from 19 colleges and universities across the country worked alongside top Department of War scientists as part of the Senior Capstone Immersion Program, known as SCIP. Over six weeks, the cadets investigated fundamental research solutions for the Army’s most consequential defense challenges, culminating in poster presentations of their research projects to military and civilian personnel.
DEVCOM ARL Acting Director Kimberly Ploskonka and DEVCOM Commanding General Brig. Gen. Robert Born presided over the showcase. Ploskonka awarded each cadet with a certificate of recognition for their creativity and dedication to Army transformation. Born then awarded the Command Coin, a challenge coin for “leaders amongst leaders,” to Cadets Austin Davidson and Gabriel Luhman for acting as their cohort’s cadet platoon leaders.
Davidson, hailing from Creighton University, studied Soldiers’ physiology, conducting complex tasks to analyze the underlying factors of effective teamwork and leadership for human-AI teams. Luhman, a rising senior at Arizona State University, developed the AI tool ARMOR+REC2OVR to assist military officers with risk identification, assessment and mitigation.
Davidson and Luhman’s research experience exemplified the benefits of collaboration between academia and the Army. For Davidson, his research experience expanded the educational capabilities that he would need for his future career.
“My project involves physiology and coding, so my breakthrough was understanding MATLAB and Python coding languages, and what the script actually meant,” Davidson said. “I like multidisciplinary studies, expanding my horizons beyond what I know, and becoming used to unfamiliar environments. I’m an aspiring military intelligence officer, and military intelligence is always looking at new technologies and ways to interpret what our enemy is doing, and what can be on the battlefield 10 to 30 years from now, or even further out in the future.”
For Luhman, his research experience broadened the potential applications for his technology through merging civilian expertise with military knowledge.
When working on ARMOR+REC2OVR, Luhman gave a detailed overview of how the military performs basic platoon-level tactics to his mentor and fellow researchers.
“When I got to explain it to them, when I got to cross the gap, or bridge it, it was as if a light went off in their heads and they said, ‘Oh my gosh! This changes the entirety of the project in a fantastic way!’,” Luhman said. “It led my mentor to get a desire to expand what we’re working on to other branches.”
From this year’s SCIP cohort, the Army’s investment in raising a generation of leaders with better tools and the expert knowledge to employ them is already succeeding.
Luhman said of his platoon, “Other cadets, and even other interns I got to work with, are geniuses in their particular fields of expertise, and if they aren’t, they’re going to do everything they can to become geniuses, so, their attitudes, their aptitudes, their discipline in doing so is incredible to work with when it works together.”
For further information on the SCIP program, please visit https://smcresearchopportunities.com/scip-program/.
DEVCOM ARL is the Army’s sole fundamental research laboratory serving as the nexus of science between the military, academia and industry. Operating under U.S. Army Futures and Concepts Command and the U.S. Army Transformation and Training Command, ARL executes globally recognized research to accelerate delivery of war winning, disruptive technologies for tomorrow’s Army.
For information, visit the Army Research Laboratory website.
| Date Taken: | 08.26.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 08.26.2026 14:23 |
| Story ID: | 573267 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 25 |
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